Socially engineered commoners as cyber warriors - Estonian future or present?

The goal of our paper is to find out the readiness in Estonia to raise awareness of cyber security-related social engineering, especially among common people. We suggest that the awareness and understanding of online social engineering can raise the Estonian defence potential to a new level. Future cyber attacks may complement server attacks with human engineering and spreading misinformation in order to create incentives for treason or mutiny against the decisions of the state. Social engineering of information and people is one way to wage modern information wars. Estonia is probably closer than anyone else to a functioning e-society, so it is important to build it up as safely and trustworthy as possible, inform people about potential downsides and suggest solutions for them. Due to widespread adoption of various e-solutions, the Estonian situation of e-safety and awareness could be considered adequate, but it can also turn out to be a weakness. Trust in the e-government, e-police, e-tax office etc. can lead to complete trust in e-channels as a whole, in turn creating extensive dependence on them. We have conducted a study involving schoolchildren and ICT students, as well as members of the Estonian Defence League Cyber Defence Unit (EDLCDU). The findings suggest a way to carry out related training programmes or campaigns. The recommendations are useful for coordinating the efforts of the four Ministries involved, addressing the crossroads of technical cyber security, social interaction, communication and education.